Announcing the Winner

And Natalie wins the post naming contest by a landslide!! The winning title is (drumroll please) "Getting Old Sucks". This title was selected from among thousands of nine other entries. All hers. Thank you, Natalie, for playing. Thanks, too, to all other commentators for indulging me at my momentary pity party. And now, we shall not speak of this again.

Until next time.

Untitled - See Below*

Not that I expect it from anyone, but if you ever DO go back into the comments on my blog (or anyone else's, for that matter) to see if someone has responded to a comment YOU made, and if you happen to have done so on my previous post about The Professor's birthday, then you may be calculating my age based on his comment.

Or not.

(While I think this is all about me, you are under no obligation to agree.)

In either case, allow me to explain.

It's much like a story problem in math. I am a certain age. I am 3 years older than The Professor. On his birthday, I thought it would be fun if he pretended, just to me, that he was older than I am. You know, to be nice. It was a chivalrous thing to do.

I thought it was a private matter.

And I'm sure he did, too.

However, when he thanked everyone for the birthday wishes in his comment on my post, he divulged the fictional age he had decided to adopt (in all his chivalry), inadvertently triggering a train of thought that any curious person reading his comment would, I assume, think: "Hmmmm. If X equals The Professor's age and Y equals the Number of Years Older she is than he, then The Professor's Wife's age equals X + Y or ______.

ANSWER: Let me be clear: I'M NOT OLDER THAN 61 FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!

I am, right now, a little sensitive about aging.

Sorry. I can't help it.

It's not that I have anything against old people. From the perspective of a 12-year-old, I am one. (Geez, from the perspective of a 50-year-old, I am one.) But still....

It has more to do with the fact that, as the years fly by at rakish speeds, I realize how impossible it is to have it all together all at the same time. Just when you figure out some bit of wisdom and start living it...wupp! There go the knees! You've almost figured out how to forgive and forget (Forgetting. Well, now, that's not so hard, is it?) and...flurp! There go the abs. Become more compassionate...blimey! You got jowls. You know what I mean?

But it's especially bad today because it's spring so I'm not wearing long sleeves. AND THE BACKS OF MY ARMS ARE FLAPPING IN THE FREAKING BREEZE!!!
I didn't even master any new insights before that happened. The flab just butted in line.

I hate it when flab butts in line.


*Please feel free to make suggestions. Best title submission wins a prize and the honor of having his/her title grace this post.

Wishin' and Hopin'

Today is The Professor's birthday. Thinking about it on ordinary days, it's a pretty good thing. Because most birthdays are. Good things, I mean. But there's this one, stinkin' little detail: He's younger than I am. So every year I wake up on his birthday wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'....that he'll be older than I am. But every year it's the same dang thing. He just can't seem to catch up with me.

Happy Birthday, Professor.

Chatting Up The Professor

This post is alternately called When a Parent Needs to Know and Where She Can Find Out.

It is customary for a young man to ask for the hand of the young woman he wants to marry.  Typically this is done by seeking out the father of the future bride.  For the hand of our first-to-be married daughter, Jeff went to The Professor's office and proceeded to make his case.

Apparently it was a grueling experience.

 For the hand of our second to-be-married daughter,  Blake went to The Professor's office and proceeded to make HIS case.  According to him,  The Professor has been improving his techniques over the last six years.

This information and the accompanying photos were recently exchanged between our two sons-in-law on Facebook.  So, thank you,  Facebook.   When a parent needs to know what's really going on, there is no better place to look than on you.

This information may also explain why both Jeff and Blake had to have surgery before their respective weddings. 

I love it when the universe reveals its secrets.

Oh, and Daughter-To-Be-Married #3, you may want to encourage any interested young men in the future to just pick up a phone.  Or better yet, have them submit a brief.

The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs and Other Meaty Matters

This afternoon I finished an absolutely magnificent year-long educational experience that I didn't want to end. It was my school district's associates partnership with BYU (cohort number something-or-other) for inservice teachers and administrators. I met some incredible colleagues from throughout the district and read some mind-expanding, thought-provoking literature that I know I wouldn't have picked up on my own had it not been assigned to me. (My reading tends more toward recreational titles like Alexander McCall Smith's The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs.)

But I digress. Another post for another time.

Three of the aforementioned 2-day-long education sessions took place at The Canyons Resort in Park City. Which brings me to my reason for living writing this post:

Where should we hold the 2011 Stimpson Family Reunion next summer?

I have a suggestion: The Westgate Hotel at the Canyons Resort. (NOTE: This is intended only to light up the discussion board, not to dictate anything to anyone.)

One thing I liked about The Westgate was that summer rates drop dramatically to $149 per night for a really nice room that

1.   sleeps 8 [2 king beds and 2 queen pullouts],
2.   has 2 full kitchens and 2 family rooms,
3.  4 flat-screen TVs,
4.  2 two-person [or four-person-if-you're-into-that-sort-of-thing-but-you'd-better-not-be--not on my watch] jetted tubs,
5.  2 two-person shower/saunas, and
6.  a door that can be closed to divide the 8-person space into two separate, more private spaces (4 people in each).

On site also are indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a workout room, and then some other amenities that cost extra but I can't remember them right now--your typical resort stuff like a spa and hair salon--you know the stuff.

Photos here.

There are lots of things to do in the summer in Park City.

It gets us out of the heat, were we to hold the reunion around the 4th of July like we did for a few years in the past.

If Grandma maintains her current mobility, she could come to it and stay at our house for a few days before and/or after, as could anyone else traveling some distance. (We have sleeping beds for 10 adults plus as many floor spaces for children as needed.)

Bren and Teresa live in the area now. Bim and Krista have relatives in the area. Greg and Shawn have relatives in the area. Coy and Scott have relatives in the area. Kevin and Jamie have relatives in the area.  Coy's and Scott's dogs have relatives in the area. 

We are in the area.

Throwin' it out there.  Right atcha.

It was just your typical Cinco de Mayo

Until these two came for a visit.  Texting and talking on the phone would have made them pretty boring visitors.

If it hadn't been for the exciting news they were spreading!
 




 





























Save the date:  September 17.